Caleb Byers overcomes injury to lead Hope bench

Wednesday

Feb 26, 2014 at 8:00 AM

By Michael.Appelgate@hollandsentinel.com(616) 546-4271

Months later, Caleb Byers can’t remember exactly how he broke one of his bones in his foot.He recalls playing basketball at Hope College’s Dow Center, and then remembers the pain he felt afterward.The senior also remembers a doctor two days later telling him he fractured his fifth metatarsal, and that he could either rest it in hopes of it healing itself, or go for surgery.That’s not the best way to begin a senior season.Byers was out eight weeks including the entire preseason as he recovered, and is now a key player off the bench for the Hope men's basketball team. The forward tallied a career-high 19 points in Hope’s last game of the regular season — a 73-56 win over Adrian to clinch the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association regular-season title. The Flying Dutchmen are the No. 1 seed in the MIAA tournament that begins ay 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at DeVos Fieldhouse against Trine (Ind.).Byers was named one of our captains before the preseason, so to be diagnosed with a broken foot was shocking at first.“I didn’t want to believe (the doctor) at first because I thought it would just get better,” he said. “No one wants to have surgery before your senior year. Worst case could have been not coming back for the whole year.”The Allegan native had already been through a lot in his collegiate career entering into his final season. He spent his freshman and sophomore years at Spring Arbor University, an NAIA school. Byers started 11 games in the two years, and his sophomore year he averaged 8.3 points per game.Byers said the Spring Arbor coach and him, “Didn’t see eye-to-eye,” and transferred after his sophomore year. At Hope, he played in 26 games and started 11 in his junior year and averaged 5.3 points per game.“He’s a very good player and we recruited him very hard out of high school,” Flying Dutchmen coach Matt Neil said. “He’s back here for a reason.”Byers missed the first four games of this season and Hope started 1-3 against some of the top teams in the country. He wasn’t alone on the bench, however, as fellow captain Grant Neil worked his way back into basketball shape from playing soccer.“We were playing great teams,” Byers said. “We were really young at the time so there was a lot of growing up to do.”Byers made his season debut in the team’s fifth game, an 80-61 loss to Illinois Wesleyan. He played six minutes and was 0-2 from the field. The next day against Carthage, he tallied his first points, and played nine minutes.“It was tough to get my shot back and find my rhythm in the game,” he said. “You’re not in sync with the team and it took a lot of time to get back.”Before MIAA games began, Byers started three games, but then moved back to the bench.He’s now one of the leaders of a second group of players just as skilled as the starters.“What we get from him coming off the bench is a post presence,” Matt Neil said. “When we were starting him we weren’t getting near the production from him. He’s good coming off the bench and he’s good at seeing the floor. He can identify where things can be attacked a little bit better.”Byers combines quick moves in the lane and under under the basket with a steady jump shot. He also can step back a hit the 3-pointer. Byers averages 6.1 points per game and pulls down three rebounds as well.“My goal is to come off the bench and give a spark defensively and offensively if we need one,” he said. “I try and bring as much energy as I can off the bench.”